South Africans have in recent weeks become reacquainted with load shedding. This despite Eskom having given its assurance to South Africans that load shedding was a thing of the past and it could and would keep the lights on this winter.

For most people, the term load shedding means having no electricity for an hour or two at a prescribed time of the day (or in most cases early evening). This means no cooking, no watching favourite TV shows and missing crucial moments of sports events.

Briefly.co.za has gathered the following easy to follow infographics which explain step-by-step what load shedding is and how it works.

Supply and demand explained. Source: BDO Consulting.

About load shedding. Source: BDO Consulting

Load shedding process explained. Source: BDO Consulting.

Typical energy use by device. Source: BDO Consulting.

What you should do during load shedding. Source: BDO Consulting.

How and when load shedding will affect you. Source: BDO Consulting.

eNCA.com reported that the term load shedding actually refers to a gradual reduction of the demand on the national power grid to a point where demand no longer exceeds Eskom’s ability to generate electricity.

Eskom has blamed the current batch of load shedding on striking employees and even accused some of those employees of sabotaging equipment.

The power utility has predicted load shedding would last for at least another ten days.